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Game Recap by Rob CloughThis was a game of runs, and adjustments made and not made. In the end, Texas
A&M made those adjustments and Duke did not, and they quite deservedly are
going on to the Elite Eight. For Duke, they overcame numerous early turnover
problems (14 in the first half alone) against A&M's pressure by going back door
and looking for quick one-on-one mismatches. The Devils clamped down on
defense, not allowing anything off the dribble and forcing A&M to become a
jump-shooting team. During that period, the Devils owned the boards, holding
A&M to one-and-done. A&M coach Gary Blair adjusted to Duke's adjustment and
started picking off passes left and right. Getting offense from defense seemed
to relax his team, and they played in a mostly-uninterrupted groove for the
rest
of the game. Duke started to play tight and didn't loosen up until the game
was
well out of reach. Passes were forced into spaces that didn't exist and
players
moved stiffly and robotically, with everyone out of synch simultaneously.
It took Duke about ten minutes to get to 10 points, but fortunately Texas A&M
wasn't in much better shape. The Aggies took a 7-1 lead as the Devils missed
their first 7 shots and turned the ball over 3 times. Pounding the ball into
Chante Black finally started to pay dividends after a number of wild shots, as
she scored inside on a turnaround. It also helped that A&M post La Toya
Micheaux left the game with 2 fouls. With their top defensive presence in the
paint out of the game, Duke went on a run. Abby Waner found Carrem Gay on a
pick and roll, Jasmine Thomas fed Black for a three point play, Gay blew past
everyone for a layup and Keturah Jackson came off the bench for a steal and
layup. When Aggie senior point guard A'Quonesia Franklin turned the ball over
for a second consecutive time, Thomas burned the overplaying defense with a
diagonal pass to a cutting Wanisha Smith for a three point play. With under
ten minutes to go in the half, the Devils suddenly led 15-12 and had momentum.
Duke lost that momentum when the quick team led by Gay and Thomas was replaced
by Cheek and Waner. The Devils turned the ball over 3 times in a row and Cheek
missed 2 foul shots, allowing A&M to tie the game up at a time when they were
vulnerable to a damaging run. Waner restored order with an assist to a cutting
Jackson and then restored the lead after Aggie supersub Morenike Atunrase hit a
three by scoring on a drive. Duke's pressure led to Black getting a steal, and
Smith found Keturah Jackson with a brilliant pass in traffic. Duke led 21-18
with under six minutes to go in the half.
Guard Takia Starks wheeled in for a score and Black uncharacteristically missed
2 free throws. The now-hot Starks put her team up for good with another jumper
with three minutes left. The Devils fell apart, turning the ball over 4 times
in the last three minutes. Duke managed to hang on by their fingertips as
Black scored on a lob over the defense, but A&M's Sydney Colson drained a three
with a minute to go to put her team up 29-23. A tough jumper by Cheek brought
Duke to within 4 at the half. A&M was ahead because Duke was only 3-8 from the
foul line, because they scored an impressive 16 points off Duke's turnovers,
and
because they were able to drain jumpers when Duke wasn't. All 22 of Duke's
points from field goals came in the paint.
Aggie star Danielle Gant got woozy at the half and had to get fluids. The
Aggies rallied around each other, and Duke did not adjust to what A&M did to
replace her. Indeed, A&M's veterans stepped it up several notches, led by
Atunrase and role player forward Patrice Reado. In a first half where Duke
limited A&M to just 2 second-chance points, A&M dominated the second half
because they got so many more opportunities. Smith scored off an inbounds play
for Duke on a drive and then Waner came up with a steal. Cheek was fouled but
only hit 1 free throw to make it 29-28, A&M. The Aggies then went on an 11-3
run to take control of the game. Franklin came up big for her team with 3
straight assists during the run, as Duke seemed unsure of what defense they
were supposed to play. The clever Franklin was immediately able to break it
down. On the other end, Duke started to panic, taking bad shots off the
dribble and from long range instead of trying to attack the basket.
Franklin hit a three to make it 45-34, but Jackson drove in for a three point
play to bring Duke back to within 8. The problem was that with A&M's grinding
style, an 8-point deficit felt like a 20-point deficit, and the Devils were
taking quick shots as though that were the case. Defensively, assignments on
switches were getting missed and no one was closing out on A&M's shooters, as
Franklin sank another three to make it 51-39 with under eleven minutes to go.
Duke missed shot after shot but finally started getting to the foul line with
about eight minutes to go. Smith, Waner and Black combined for 9 points at the
stripe to keep the game within 12-14 points until Thomas hit Duke's first trey
of the game with under five minutes left, making it 63-52.
Duke simply couldn't stop the Aggies and convert quickly enough. Waner hit a 3
to make it 65-55, but A&M burned off 25 seconds from the shot clock and scored
on a drive. Duke cut it to 10 again with 3:14 left and Waner came up with a
steal but couldn't hit a shot. The Devils never drew closer than 11 points the
rest of the way as the Aggies made enough of their free throws to rest easy.
The Aggies shot 46% in the second half (after shooting 35% in the first) and
the Devils shot 30% in the second half (after shooting 48% in the first). With
everything else (rebounds, second chance points, turnovers) being equal in the
second half, Duke simply couldn't overcome their inability to stop Texas A&M
when they needed to, or find a way to play defense so as to get a stop when
needed.
So ends a season of transition for a group of players who loved playing with
and
being with each other. Even as the hurt of this loss begins to fade from their
minds, they will always have the memory of how they were there for her each
other throughout a tumultuous twelve months. They should feel proud of the way
they represented their university and themselves.
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